Scavengers
by Tr0p3
Summary: Set two years after movie. The gang meets up with two more survivors during their travels. Chicago, a college student who is obsessed with horror movies, and Oahu, An optimistic highschooler who never turns off his Ipod. Fun times abound. OC/LR C/W.


Prologue

Somewhere in downtown Chicago, a young man stood in the empty streets. Wearing a beat up leather jacket and overly torn jeans, he carried a brick in his hands. He had an axe strapped to his back and a Cubs hat fastened tightly on his head.

He stared at a convenience store window, knowing that as soon as he got in, he would have to grab as much as he could, and get the hell out.

Taking one last breath, he removed his coat, wound up and flung the brick through the window.

The alarm wasn't very loud, but it was loud enough. He only had time to fill his jacket up with random cans before he had to get the hell out.

It was a matter of seconds before he heard the grunting and groaning of the infected. He rushed around a nearby corner and down the alley, stumbling over a pile of trash and dropping a few of the cans as he ran. Finding the door to an apartment building, he knocked three times in an odd rhythm.

He turned around, seeing at least seven infected sprinting towards him. For having rigor mortis, these things were damn fast. Doing the knock one more time, a very tan teenager opened the door and pulled him in. The first mans cap fell off as he was pulled through the door, and he had just enough time to grab it before the infected came and the tan one slammed the door.

"Damn it Max." The capped man said trying to catch his breath. "Where were you?"

"Sorry I had my headphones in." The tan boy said with a shrug.

"YOU COULDN'T HAVE GONE FIVE MINUTES WITHOUT YOUR FUCKING IPOD!"

Max turned around and walked up the stairs, ignoring the question.

Although angry, the man with the Cubs hat took a deep breath and tried to calm down. It didn't work very well. "You could have gotten me killed, Max. I'd toss you into a horde if I didn't need someone to watch my back."

Max poked his head around the corner of the stairwell giving Craig a lopsided smile. "Aw, come on, Craig, you know you love me."

Craig gave a slight chuckle. "I sure as hell don't right now."

"Yeah, well, you'll get over it, now come on, I'm starving."

Craig couldn't help but smile as he climbed to his feet and started up the stairs. "Is food all you think about?"

"Normally, I'd ignore that, because it's true, but all I've had today was a bag of chips, so I think I'm entitled to…OOF."

As Craig turned the corner into a hallway, he saw that Max had slipped and gotten his leg stuck in the humungous barricade they had made out of random objects.

Max tried yanking it out, but it was stuck in there good. Craig started to laugh and Max shot him a glare "Yeah, yeah, very funny. Little help?"

Craig smirked as he found a good foothold on a bookshelf. "Serves you right."

Max just rolled his eyes and continued yanking his leg. Craig stood over him, finding a stable spot on top of a table. He slung the jacket filled with food over his shoulder, grabbed Max's arm, and gave a large tug. "GAH," Max yelped, "Easy man, I was planning on using this foot later." Craig stayed silent at Max's bad attempt at a joke as he continued to yank. After three or four jerks, he finally came free.

"Crap," he groaned as he stared down into the hole, "I lost my shoe in there."

Craig tugged him by his shirt collar down the barricade, "It's gone now. I'm not taking that thing down just to find a shoe."

Max grumbled a bit, but didn't argue. You needed to take every precaution you could these days.

They both entered one of the apartments and bolted the door behind them. However, instead of stopping there, they climbed out on the fire escape and headed towards the penthouse.

Max stopped every now and then to complain. "Did we have to shut down the elevators?"

Craig rolled his eyes, as he couldn't believe they were having this conversation yet again. "Max, we've gone over this, we had to cut the power to ensure we don't attract attention to ourselves. Besides, haven't you watched any zombie movies? There are quite a few scenes where the people take an elevator and the door opens to have a horde flooding in."

"Yeah, but that's a MOVIE! As in…NOT REAL!"

Craig shrugs. "Maybe so, but my first argument stands. Now stop whining, it's not like you're out of shape or anything."

"The less steps I have to take, the better."

Craig shook his head in annoyance while he muttered "lazy ass kid" under his breath. Max would probably be dead already if he hadn't tagged along with Craig. He may have had great instinct, and could think on his feet, but he has the logic of a two-year old. Craig knew he was no better, though. He could come up with good plans and work his way out of situations if he has time to think, but can't improvise well. The truth was, as much as Craig hated to admit it, they needed each other. If that means putting up with Max's occasional whining, so be it.

And it wasn't like he was babysitting. Set aside his constant complaining, he's actually a pretty fun guy to be around. He keeps things entertaining anyways.

They reached the top of the fire escape and climbed through the open window into a very large apartment.

Tossing his jacket on the counter, Craig plopped down on the couch and closed his eyes to catch a few z's. He didn't get very far before Max jabbed his finger into his chest.

Craig half opened an eyelid. "What?"

"Craig it's your turn to cook dinner."

He just groaned and rolled over. He knew that after being chased by zombies he should be wide awake, but it's become a daily routine nowadays.

"I GOT the food…YOU cook it."

Max rolled his eyes, but proceeded to the counter. He quickly frowned when he saw that a lot of them were canned fruit, however, he found a couple cans of Chef Boyardee.

He gave a large sigh as he dumped the ravioli into a pot and lit the stove manually.

_Another day, another scavenge, another canned meal…I fuckin hate zombies_.

…

"Slug Bug!" Tallahassee yelled as slammed his fist into Columbus' shoulder.

He yelped and jumped in his seat, causing the car to swerve. "Damn it Tallahassee. You don't punch the driver, you NEVER, punch the driver."

"You know those rules of yours are getting on my nerves. I'm just trying to have a little fun, lighten up."

"That's not even one of my rules, IT"S COMMON KNOWLEDGE!" He could hear Wichita snickering next to him. "It's not funny, he could have crashed us, and that fucking hurt."

She raised her hands up. "Don't drag me into this, this is between you and him, although it is entertaining."

"Oh…yeah…I'm glad watching me freak out is enjoyable. Anyways, we're low on gas, so start looking for a station or something."

She frowned. "We just passed one about a mile back, how low on gas are we?" As if to answer her question, the engine began to sputter until it turned off, slowing the car to a stop.

Columbus leaned back in his seat and stared at the roof of the car. "…That low on gas."

Little Rock, realizing that they had stopped, turned off her Ipod and took out her the earbuds. "What's going on? Why are we stopping?"

Tallahassee groaned, "Because the spit-fuck forgot to fill the tank."

Little Rick rolled her eyes, stepped out of the car, and popped the trunk, taking three empty gasoline tanks and setting them on the ground. "Come on, there was a gas station not too far back, we can fill up there."

…

"Damn" Craig said, placing his bowl in the sink, "That was good ravioli."

Max raises an eyebrow, "It was Chef Boyardee, not exactly five star dining."

"Better then those MRE's we've been eating" he retorts. _Oh God, _Max thought, -_Meals Ready to Eat- Normally I'm not that picky but some of that stuff tasted like toilet paper._

Craig grabbed a sniper rifle, one of the two guns they actually had, walked over to the window and stepped onto the fire escape. Max knew that he'd probably be there the rest of the night, sniping zeds.

He never understood the importance of that. It was a waste of ammo and it drew unnecessary attention to ourselves, two points which Craig lectured on constantly. Why would someone so cautious about surviving knowingly bring attention to himself? Not that zeds would ever get up here, but still.

As Max is about to start listening to his Ipod, Craig stuck his head through the window.

"MAX, get the shotgun and flares, you're not going to believe this. There are survivors out there!"


End file.
